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Matt Shaer is the host of Over My Dead Body, a true story about a murder that takes place in Tallahassee. This is part three of our interview with Shaer about his tremendously successful podcast and his partnership with Wondery.
Matt is a print reporter who transformed into an audio reporter for his podcast — and he’s very good at it.
After listening to all seven episodes of the series we reached out to Matt for an interview. We wanted to get all the details on how he came across the story, how he researched the case, how much time it took him and the Wondery team to put the series together and, quite frankly, as much detail as possible about how big an operation something like this is.
We’ve published our interview with Dan in three parts. We believe there’s a lot of great information in this interview for podcasters at every level.
Here’s Part 3 of our interview with Dan
PBJ: You mentioned at the end of this series that you had more coming up? Matt: The trial related to this case is suppose to start in June. So Eric and I will go to Tallahassee and report on the trial and produce follow-up episodes. One major question we have is if they will be full-scale produced episodes, scripted in the way that these were or interview style. That’s something we are working on. Separate from that there will be another season of Over My Dead Body but it will not revolve around the same murder. I do not know for sure but I think it will be around the same time next year. I will not be the host of the new season. It’s my understanding that they do have a case in mind but they are soliciting about other cases that might be interesting. And Wondery has a bunch of other marquee shows coming up.
PBJ: When you were interviewing people, did you find it was easy for them to warm up to you and agree to be interviewed? Or does everybody want to be interviewed? Matt: It varies. Sometimes we had to explain to people what a podcast was. One challenge was parts of this case were open. There were people who had yet to be arrested and trials yet to happen. They were worried about jeopardizing an investigation. There is a formalness to setting up a podcast with the mic and producer which could make people nervous. All that said, people did want to talk about this case mostly because they wanted it solved. There was a sense that justice had not been fully done and until then people were going to speak out about it. None of this would have been possible without the interviews and we ended up with more tape than we knew what to do with.
PBJ: Do you think Wendy the wife had something to do with his murder? Matt: I would paraphrase David Lap who was a guest on the podcast, who said I’m familiar with libel laws and do not want to offer my opinion. I think the case has a long way to go.
PBJ: You mentioned Heavyweight, give us your top three favorite podcasts? Matt: Heavyweight is my very favorite. In The Dark, as a piece of investigative journalism, is going to be pretty much impossible to rival, the second season. What Madeline did with that is remarkable. The first three episodes of S-Town is as good as it gets in terms of storytelling. I did not love how it ended up. A fair amount of my podcast diet is podcasts that are essentially repurposing of content. I listen to the Bill Maher podcast which is his show from HBO. I listen to the New Yorkers podcasts where writers read stories aloud. I listen widely.
PBJ: We loved S-Town. Made us wonder if it was true because it was so crazy. Matt: It will be hard to top that. Part of me is saying the first three episodes were so good, and so finding a resolution that everyone likes is impossible. We will be talking about that for decades.
PBJ: Advice to anyone who is considering what you just did? Matt: Be realistic about time and understand how much time it will take. Listen to as many podcasts you can get your hands on and see what they do well and what can be improved on. There is a lot to be said for independent podcasters, but if you are starting from a different background like a blogger, attach yourself to a producer who will help bring out the best in the audio.
PBJ: From the day you started to the last day, what was the time frame? Matt: It is a little prolonged because initially the trial was supposed to happen in February and so we were going to wait and we took a break. It has been 14 months but the full-on hands-on time when we were serious was August to January. I was putting in at least 20 to 30 hours. _Note: This case is still going on with a trial planned for June. Matt will be putting together more shows as the case moves along. _
Read Part one of our interview with Matt HERE[.](http://Read Part 1 of our interview with Matt HERE.) Read part two HERE